An unrepentant Pete Rose is banned from his beloved game

When the dust settles on the deal struck between baseball and Pete Rose, it will still be nearly impossible to explain his banishment to the kids who love the game. Rose's bargain was the work of lawyers; its contorted logic was utterly devoid of the simplicity and finality that make the game so refreshing. It was a fine-print compromise that at once allowed Baseball Commissioner A. Bartlett Giamatti to announce that Rose was banned from baseball for life for betting on his own team -- and Rose, an hour later in Cincinnati, to say Hey, it ain't so. Worse, although the...